By Jonty Ralphsmith
Nerves, anxiety and confidence are the cocktail of emotions Casey Radio caller Brent Sternberg feels in the lead-up to games.
The first two ingredients are inexorable when doing something as passionately as Sternberg does; the third comes later, just before he goes on-air and is borne out of his well-researched preparation.
Sternberg estimates he spends on average, a couple of hours per weekday preparing, researching, equipping himself with knowledge.
In his toolkit, Sternberg has spreadsheets on the clubs he commentates, with statistics and other quirky information about them that will enhance the broadcast.
As is the way with most things, though, the glamour of calling in the big leagues such as the AFL is not mirrored at the lower semi-professional level.
Statistics and player-specific information in the VFL, which Sternberg calls for Casey Radio, and NPL (soccer), is far less available given the reduced media attention each league gets.
It means lots of blue-collar work communicating with often unresponsive clubs, to get every scrap of information and follow up on news.
The weekly reward for all that research is the exhilaration of commentary.
The grander prize was an AFL Victoria rising star award for his 2022 work.
The highlights of the year were calling grand finals in the VFLW and VFL as well as getting exposure to calling the more professional AFLW.
Sternberg found out about the honour when his housemate put it in his group chat.
While it was pleasant recognition, Sternberg doesn’t necessarily see it as a breakthrough year as it was the ambitious 29-year-old’s first full season of commentary.
The 2019 season was truncated by a live transplant, the third he received in his life through no fault of his own, before the Covid-19 interrupted years.
“Because on radio you have to describe the action people can’t see, you have more of a free rein, therefore the radio calls often sound better and a lot more passionate,” Sternberg said.
“That’s why I would love radio commentary.
“Everyone gets this idea that people who chase this thing want to be the lead caller on Channel Seven, that’s not me necessarily.
“The moment I start calling for a commercial station on radio, I’ve made it.”
Peter Drury is the name Sternberg puts forward when asked about his favourite commentator.
He jokes that listening to Drury’s eloquence and passion is a reminder of how much he still has to improve, but the Holmesglen Sports Media graduate has slowly seen his own improvement.
An industry where criticism and abuse can come hot and quick from the armchair experts, it’s one where valuable feedback is seldom received so Sternberg listens back to all his games.
“I’ve gotten better at tangible things like player (identification) – which just come from calling in the league for longer – and being able to think of questions to ask co-commentators to elicit information out of them,” he said.
“And just concentrating – you’re there to call the games and describe the action, you can’t forget things, if a player misses up one end and goes up the other end and kicks a goal, you have to talk about what a turnaround it is.
“I also listen to the tone of my voice in certain parts of the game and what sounds good and what sounds (bad), and if there’s something that doesn’t sound good then I’ll think ‘whenever I say that word again or that vowel or a similar syllable, I don’t want to use my voice like that’.
“You have to come to terms with the fact you might screw up in a two-hour broadcast, you just can’t screw up in a big moment.
“I think I’m lucky because I’ve grown up watching so much footy – I turn 30 (soon) and at the risk of sounding arrogant, I don’t think there would be too many people my age, even in Melbourne, the footy hotpot, who have watched more footy than me in their life.
“I feel like I have a lot of instinctive ability to say something at a moment in a game because I understand that something is happening or momentum is changing.”
As well as commentary, Sternberg also hosts his own NFL show called ‘Talkin’ American Footy’ on Sunday nights for Casey Radio, giving him an insight into producing his own shows.
“The best thing about (Casey Radio) is they know you are there to cut your teeth and hone your skills and one day hopefully call somewhere else which is what I hope happens, and they don’t hold that against people,” Sternberg said.
“Casey Radio has supported me and helped me get better, so hopefully a door opens for me but I am appreciative they thought I was good enough for them and given me this opportunity.”
Meanwhile, Pakenham Gazette also received recognition.
The weekly football liftout won ‘outstanding community-football focussed publication’ and the ‘Volunteer of the Week’ segment was highly commended in the ‘outstanding column’ category.
Editor Dave Nagel’s report about Tooradin’s drought-breaking premiership was highly commended in the ‘outstanding feature story’ category.
